Spending your day exploring a totally new area was hard work, even for someone like Dustin who seemed to have an endless supply of energy, of course it hadn't helped that he was constantly looking over his shoulder and hoping that Theo wasn't about to jump him just for smiling at Lily. Aside from the never ending landscape of rock, rock, and more rock, plus the scattered glowing trees and the occasional looks from Theo that said "I don't completely trust you but I don't know what to make of you just yet"; things really weren't that bad. They were alive, they were relatively unscathed, outside of the few scratches that his arm was sporting after trying to catch Fran and keep her from tripping on a rather large tree root, and their was safety in numbers.
Still he wasn't about to complain when Cam suggested they stop so that everyone could rest, his feet hurt and though the others weren't saying it he could see the tired looks in their eyes. With a groan he leaned against a wall and slid down not caring that he was quite possibly covering the back of his uniform with mud. A few feet away RJ was helping Fran and not to far from them Theo was keeping one eye trained on Lily the other scanning the area ever at the ready.
"Dude," Dustin said making a face "This would make the worst vacation spot ever! Even my Aunt Gert's place is looking more tempting then here!"
"I thought you said that your Aunt Gert force fed you blue cheese and was always pinching your cheeks," Cam pointed out.
"Yeah and she smells funky to! Like moth balls and old fuzzy cheese!" wrinkling his nose Dustin waved a hand in front of his face "Dude totally rank!"
"We aren't on holiday," Theo snapped, his voice even but eyes narrowed at Dustin.
The rest of Theo's group exchanged cautious glances and Cam shot Dustin a sympathetic look. The Green Samurai knew personally how Dustin's personality and view on live might be seen as a…well an acquired taste, but that didn't mean it was okay for some new guy to start picking on him just cause Dustin's views clashed with his own. Luckily Dustin didn't seem too phased by the comment; he just shrugged it off and offered to do the first watch so that the others could get some rest.
Thirty minutes later nothing out of the ordinary had happened, outside of Dustin noting that Theo happened to snore when he slept. A few tumbleweeds passed buy but there wasn't any attacks from giant mutant gerbils or freak jelly storms. Stretching his arms above his head before clasping his fingers and leaning against a boulder Dustin almost missed the quiet shuffling going on a few feet away. Turning his head he found his gaze locked with Casey, the source of the noise, who was staring at him with a nervous smile.
"Sorry, guess I can't sleep," Casey muttered, keeping his voice low so not to wake up the others though he was relatively sure that Theo (who was sticking close to Lily) was still awake as well.
Dustin grinned, lowered a hand and patted the ground next to him "Not exactly four star accommodations is it?" his grin widened a bit as Casey quickly crossed the space between them and sat down next to him "Then not every one can have an affinity for the earth," he added juggling a handful of pebbles in one hand.
"An affinity for earth huh?" Casey asked his head tilted and Dustin found himself hit with how adorable the other young man looked "We get our strength from our inner beast," and though Theo would probably kill him later for giving out important information the Red Jungle Fury Ranger continued as he settled down "Mine is the spirit of the tiger."
That was different, but Dustin supposed it made sense. Different set of Rangers meant a different set of powers. While he wouldn't trade being a ninja for anything (cause it was way better then being a pirate, the dentist bills for pirates must be through the roof what with their bad teeth and all) he had to admit he was a little curious to hear more. After all tigers were cool man! Casey's poor attempt at hiding a yawn though distracted him and he chided himself for not paying more attention to his companions.
"Dude why don't you get some rest, feel free to use my shoulder, it's totally more comfortable then a rock any day!"
Casey's cheeks flushed and it was only then that Dustin realized how his comment could have been taken and he was about to apologize when the other teen moved closer and actually did rest head against Dustin's black and yellow clad shoulder. Adjusting his position slightly and slipping his arm around Casey, Dustin couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face as the teen in red snuggled closer and put his own arm around Dustin loosely while muttering little content noises.
Now they were comfortable, a little to comfortable as Dustin found it difficult to keep his own eyes open. Despite that, and the bump he was sporting on the back of his head courtesy of Theo's rather non-gentle attempt at waking him up, Dustin had to admit it was all worth it. Especially when he caught sight of Casey watching him with a small cute smile and flushed cheeks.
Yep, totally worth it.